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The global food system is dysfunctional both from a health and sustainability perspective. It is time that science, policy and business address these issues collectively.

On 30 April, a report from the World Health Organisation revealed that antibiotic resistance, the result of excessive use primarily in animal feed for livestock, is no longer a prediction for the future, but rather something that is happening right now and can affect "anyone, of any age, in any country". Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill, the report warned.

A few weeks later, scientists in two independent studies published observations indicating that the collapse of part of the Western Antarctic ice sheet may have passed a tipping point of irreversible melting. The latter may put humanity at a trajectory of not one, but two metres sea level rise by the end of this century, threatening not only cities but health and food systems for hundreds of millions of coastal inhabitants.

At the same time, we read almost daily about unhealthy food habits, increasingly obese populations, the rising occurrence of food-related non-communicable diseases and chronic malnourishment in poor nations. For researchers in sustainability, health and food production all these gloomy warnings come as no particular surprise. The problem is that they are mostly dealt with separately. This has to change.

Get the food production right

In a world committed to feeding a population of 9 billion people by 2050, we face unprecedented risks and challenges. We are putting extreme pressure on the Earth's climate, natural resources and ecosystems. In fact, we have entered what scientists call the Anthropocene, a geological epoch where humans influence every aspect of the planet. There are now so many of us, using so many resources that we are disrupting the whole planet's nutrient and energy flows leaving almost all the planet's ecosystems with marks of our presence.

Given our systemic impact on the planet, issues such as health, nutrition and sustainability must now be dealt with together. But where to start? Food production is central to risks related to human health and environmental sustainability. Agriculture alone occupies more than 35% of Earth's terrestrial surface, the largest use of land on the planet, yet an estimated 33% of global food production is wasted. That is a depressing consequence of how unsustainable our current production and consumption pathways are. The picture becomes even more worrying when considering that globally, one out of four children under the age of five is so malnourished that they will never reach their full physical and cognitive potential.

The good news, however, is that it is increasingly recognised that significant gains in public health cannot be achieved without ensuring sustainable food production. Emerging evidence suggests that agriculture can turn from foe to friend through ecosystem based landscape management practices where land, water, biodiversity and inputs of energy and nutrients are used in sustainable ways. In fact, farming systems can go from carbon source to carbon sink, which in turn builds organic matter in soils, raising productivity and resilience to droughts.

There are win-win strategies at hand if we start producing our food healthier and on existing rather than new land. We also seem to be more inclined to support environmental protection if it helps protect our own health. The health gains of reduced per capita meat consumption is just one example.

A more sustainable food production can also create new business opportunities and remove significant socio-economic burdens. Business shoulders a large portion of responsibility, from sustainable production systems to supply of food stuffs that contribute to healthy and sustainable diets. Non-communicable diseases such as cancers and diabetes are expected to cost the global economy $47tn (£28tn) over the next two decades. The direct and indirect global costs of cardiovascular diseases is estimated to rise from $863bn (£513bn) in 2010 to $1044bn (£620bn) within the next two decades.

Such predictions, along with increased knowledge about the environmental state of our planet, represent enormous business opportunities and should drive demand for healthier and more sustainable business models and consumption patterns.

A new global initiative

But integrating knowledge on food, health and sustainability is admittedly a major scientific endeavour. There are significant knowledge gaps that need to be filled. Together with the Norwegian Stordalen Foundation, the Stockholm Resilience Centre has initiated a global initiative linking these fields across academia, business and politics. An important part of the initiative is an annual high-level forum, the EAT Stockholm Food Forum.

The forum is among the first to take on the issues of food, health and sustainability as one combined challenge. EAT is created in collaboration with academic partners such as The Lancet, Harvard School of Public Health, Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, Berkeley Food Institute, CGIAR Consortium and the UCL Institute of Global Health. The inaugural EAT Stockholm Food Forum is taking place in Stockholm on 26-27 May, with the objective to find guidelines and solutions that are not only scientifically robust, but also politically viable and profitable for businesses.

It is time to acknowledge the fact that what we eat determines our health, and also accept that what we eat determines the health of our planet.